updated 06:05 pm EDT, Wed April 27, 2011

Motorola Xoom to get feature update April 28

Verizon on Wednesday revealed plans for the second update to the Motorola Xoom in as many months. The 28MB update adds support for both HDCP video output and the video copy protection scheme Google bought when it acquired Widevine late last year to help its plans for a mainstream YouTube movie service. Although not explicitly mentioned, it came just as Google was rumored to be launching the service as soon as this week.

Most expect the service to work as it does for the currently independent-only version, where viewers can rent by the title and stream as they would any other YouTube video. Android 3.0 currently doesn't have a major, consistently available movie service but could get one if Google completes a deal.

The patch further brings hooks for Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) uploading and will let owners finally see and upload pictures directly from a camera attached through USB. It reflects what iPad owners have had for over a year but won't need an extra adapter beyond the right USB cable.

Bluetooth is now more useful and can be used both for a wireless mouse as well as for headsets and other peripherals in Google Talk. A shortcut now exists to bring up the Bluetooth keyboard.

Other additions are mostly fixes but still important, including the ability to finally see complete HTML messages from a POP3 server, transfer data over SSL from a website, and use encrypted passwords during boot. Motorola's upgrade should also allow docking the Xoom without interruption, improve proxy support for connecting through Wi-Fi, and allow for using pre-shared keys when creating a 3G hotspot.

The update is due to go live on Thursday and will be available immediately with a manual check and pushed out over the air over time. [viaDroid-Life]